Nothing But Noms
by FFlove190
Summary: Gaius and Stahl bond over delicious goodies of the sweet and savory variety.


**A/N:** So, I'm incredibly frustrated that there aren't ANY Gaius and Stahl supports in Awakening. I mean, seriously – the guy who loves food and the guy who loves sweets. There's just so much material there. This will probably turn into a collection of one shots where I practice(and fail at) writing conversation, so watch out.  
Also, I have absolutely no idea how gingerbread house making/candy making in general work (all I know is that it's a total pain).

**~The Gingerbread House~**

It was just another day in the Shepard's camp. Gaius had decided to take up bee watching under the shade of the cliff side; but, the watch was thus far bee-less. With a sigh, the thief plopped onto a nicely shaped rock and, taking up a stick, began to draw idly in the dirt. Before long, what were swirls and random shapes were smeared into the rigid lines of a blue print.

"I should probably make this side a little bit longer... make a window here – nah. That just looks stupid. It should go on the other side, next to the kitchen. Perfect."

"Oh, wow, what's that?"

"Woah!" Gaius all but flew off the rock. He'd been so absorbed in the blueprints of his gingerbread house that he hadn't even noticed the cavalier come up to him. The normally sleepy-eyed Stahl looked quite excited. "What are you doing here, Nibbles?"

"I was just going to hunt down some berries. I was getting a little hungry." The cavalier looked off into the distance, in the direction Gaius had learned was a blueberry patch, before turning back to the thief. "Are you going to build a house after the war, Gaius?"

"Kinda," Gaius glanced down at the design. "I mean, it's gunna be a gingerbread house."

"Really?!" Stahl looked back down at the blue prints. "Wow! I never even thought of that. A whole gingerbread house! I can't even imagine living there."

Gaius couldn't help but chuckle. "I'm not planning on living in it. Just building it. Would be pretty funny if you went inside it though." He couldn't help but picture the cavalier wearing with a gingerbread house stuck to his head, covered in crumbs. That sounded like a great fate for his house if he accidentally burnt the bread.

Stahl sat back, shaking his head. "Well, it seems like such a waste to build a whole house of gingerbread and not live in it. I mean... just imagine being surrounded by all that gingerbread! Waking up for a nice breakfast of wall... Going to bed on a nice tasty mattress..."

Gaius found himself easy caught up in his companion's words. "Heh. That's a pretty good day dream. I was just going to put a little gingerbread man inside it. Top it with gumdrops, you know, the usual."

"Well," the cavalier rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You could always line the walls with little gingerbread men. Make them like... like wallpaper. And then you could just walk by and eat one if you ever got hungry."

The thief suddenly realized that he and Stahl were talking about two very different things. "Wait. Do you actually think I'd make an actual house-sized house out of gingerbread?"

Stahl seemed confused. "Well... why wouldn't you?"

Before he could stop himself, Gaius broke out in laughter. "Haha. I like your style, Nibbles."

The two split up shortly after that, when Stahl's stomach made a particularly loud growl, and Gaius went back to his small design etched in the dirt.

* * *

~The Next Day~

After another day of tearing down and setting up camp and a few obligatory battles with Risen, the Shepards found themselves preparing for dinner. Gaius found himself loitering by the kitchens as the on-duty would-be chefs argued over what to make for dessert. They didn't seem to be coming to a conclusion any time soon, so the thief took to his new favorite past-time – drawing blueprints for a gingerbread house. This time he was taking them to pen and paper.

As if the actioned summoned him, Stahl wandered into the mess tent. "Gaius!" the green-clan cavalier jogged over to the thief's seat at the table. "What are you up to there? Another house?"

"Heya, Nibbles," Gaius greeted. He gestured down to the scrawl of lines and notes on his paper. "I'm drawing the blueprints to that big 'ole gingerbread house we talked about yesterday."

"I hate to tell you this, Gaius. But... I don't think it'll work out." Stahl looked ashamed as he said the words.

The redhead didn't know what had brought on the sudden change. Just yesterday the cavalier had been even more gung ho about it than Gaius was. "What are you talking about, Nibbles?"

The cavalier wrung his hands. "I was thinking about it a lot last night after a midnight snack. And... well... it's about the construction. If you just use gingerbread I don't know if it'll hold up. I mean, what if it rains? The walls, the roof – everything will just get all soggy and fall aparty. And – and, if there's a flood the house will just be washed away. Gingerbread houses are about as sturdy as tents with holes in the cotton."

Gaius was a bit surprised at how much thought his fellow Shepard had put into it. But he did have valid points. The thief examined his blueprint once more. "Hmm... I see what you mean. I guess we could dig down and use something for a foundation – maybe sticky like caramel or taffy. But then the walls are the problem."

At this point, Stahl settled into the seat next to the brainstorming redhead. "Maybe we could use hard candies? Any breads will get soggy in the weather, and the hard candies will take a while to wear down. We could also use some thick gelatin to stick them together."

For a moment, Gaius just stared at the cavalier. "Nibbles, were you always such a genius?"

"Wh-wh-what? Oh man, I'm really not that special. My family runs an apothecary shop so I know a lot of ways to uh, well, make things work."

"Heh." Gaius examined his comrade. "That's a pretty useful skill to have. Whaddya say we make a trial house next time we make camp?"

Stahl cheeks were still a bit red, but fading fast. "A trial house?

The redhead smirked. "Yeah. A real tiny type. That way we can see how well it'll hold up before we build it."

"That sound great." Stahl's smiled. The dinner bell rung nearby. "Oh! Dinner! I haven't eaten in ages!"

As Stahl eagerly dished up, Gaius eyed the dishes warily. Dinner didn't look appetizing at all, he needed a real sugar rush to get his juices going for all these new ideas in his head. Dessert couldn't come fast enough.

* * *

~And The Next Day After That~

After meandering a little farther east along Ylissean roads, the Shepards set up camp once more. Stahl was seated at a makeshift table outside of camp. The overturned barrel was a little small, but would suit their purposes nicely. He had managed to situate it between two well-sized rocks.

Gaius found the cavalier with ease. "Hup. Here we go." The thief dropped the stash of stolen treats onto the tabletop.

Stahl peaked into the bag. "Oh, wow. That's a lot. A little more than than we need, isn't it?"

Gaius patted the sack. "I figured in the worse case it wouldn't be pretty. Got some extra to keep out emotions in check."

With that, the duo settled down and began the process of building their 'gingerbread' house.

"So if we put this... like that?" The cavalier held up his makeshift weld-job of two candy-canes while Gaius's hands worked around it.

"That looks like it'll work. And then this can go right on." Using more candy-like glue, the thief melded on a large chunk of hard candy to join with the two to make a sturdy-looking arch.

Stahl hesitantly took his hands away, before grinning as the small structure remained standing. "Haha. That looks great." He began to reach for another candy cane when he noticed something odd in the bag. "Hey, Gaius. What's this? It's hard as a rock."

Gaius picked it up from Stahl's hand and eyed it. "Hmm... good question. I don't really know. Just kind of took it from the kitchen."

"Gaius!" Stahl pouted across the table. "You really shouldn't take things without asking. Hey – wait, hold on. I'm all for eating things but that doesn't really look edible."

The thief licked his lips trying to determine the taste. "Kinda tastes like dirt. Too hard to chew either." Absently he took out a knife, hoping to crack open the shell of the thing. The blade only skittered off leaving only a slight chip in the surface. "Huh. I think it's actually a rock."

"Huh. Just a rock." Stahl brightened suddenly. "I have an idea." The cavalier stood and snatched the rock out of Gaiu's hand. He put the rock so the candy stem was between it and the book they were using to mimic the dirt around the foundation (Gaius may have borrowed it from Miriel's library when she wasn't looking). "We can put some rocks in the foundation like this. And the candy beam can go between the dirt and the rock. This way when the gelatin goes in the beams won't slant."

"Perfect." Gaius smiled. "Now we'll just need to find some more rocks." The thief was already off and scouring the premises when he called back. "Nibbles. Throw me that candy cane while I search."

* * *

~ A Candy-Filled Few Hours Later ~

Stahl glanced around at the dusk light. "It's getting a little dark. Almost dinnertime, I think." His stomach let out an agreeing gurgle of complaint.

"Mhmm," the redhead didn't look up from the house. "Almost done. Just one... more... gumdrop... done!" He sat back with a sigh. And together, the thief and cavalier examined their work.

Stahl tilted his head. "It's not... exactly what I was expecting."

Gaius hummed in agreement. "Doesn't look much like a gingerbread house anymore. It's just a house made out of candy now."

"Well..." Stahl leaned in to look through the small cut of a window. "We haven't done the inside yet. That could be gingerbread."

Gaius groaned and resisted the urge to dig around in his pockets for some sugar. "This is going to take more self-restrant than I planned for. I should have brought more candy."

Stahl nodded. They had eaten almost all the gingerbread hours before, almost absently. "We would have to make so much of all of this just to make a good-sized house. And then we'd have to keep from eating it while we're building. It's going to be a real challenge."

The redhead leveled his companion a stare. "Maybe this gingerbread house isn't all it's cracked up to be."

"Well... we could always open up a bakery. I mean, if we're talking big dream plans. And we could make a whole neighborhood of gingerbread houses. Maybe just little ones like this, but we could still do this."

"Heh, you know what Nibbles?" Gaius found himself bouncing with the same energy that came with a sugar rush. "That's a great idea."

Stahl chucked bashfully at the praise. Soon after, the loud bell hailing dinner rung. Gaius got to keep the not-so-gingerbread house. That night, he also got Stahl's dessert free of charge and no sticky fingers.


End file.
